The Kiss Goodbye
by ryder77
Summary: They finally share a kiss. What of it? **Spoilers until Turn 22**
1. Lelouch

Disclaimer: Code Geass belongs to the brilliant people in Sunrise

* * *

I came to say goodbye.

Goodbye to the mask I've worn the longest: Lelouch Lamperouge. That mask of mine made his friends here a promise: to someday watch fireworks with everyone. He won't be keeping that promise, I'm afraid, because he is no more.

I disembark from the imperial private jet, to the cheers of thanks from the people of Japan - formerly Area 11. I wave to them as any foreign delegate should, and my attention fell towards one attempting to climb the fence.

Rivalz Cardemonde. Lelouch Lamperouge's partner-in-crime. He calls out to me, believing he is speaking to his friend. He is mistaken. He is restrained by those tasked to control the crowds, and I look away towards the Black Knight assigned to guide me towards the delegation.

Kallen. I wonder which one I'm talking to, now? Lelouch Lamperouge's classmate? Or personal guard to my most powerful mask, Zero? Ah, she calls me by my given name. She has mistaken me for someone else.

"Pleased to meet you," I reply. Indeed, this is the first time I speak to her as my true self. I refer to her by her official title within the organization of the Black Knights. She understands and responds promptly, formally, as expected when dealing with official guests. Well done.

I ask that we take a roundabout route, citing nervousness. That, of course, is partially true. It is, after all, Lelouch vi Britannia's first foreign visit. The real reason? Maybe Lelouch Lamperouge is being nostalgic. Maybe because this way, Kallen would "return to Ashford with me," like Zero asked a lifetime ago. Maybe Lelouch vi Britannia has some plan up his sleeve and needs to check the grounds thoroughly to see if it could be pulled off without a hitch. Take your pick. I'll never tell.

She walks ahead of me at a slow, steady pace and I follow. Having worn the mask of student the longest, his memories slowly, surely, begin to surface: Serving in the student council as vice-president. Skipping class to read a book. Riding the sidecar in Rivalz's motorbike to all those chess gambling sessions. Getting told off by Shirley for participating in them. Helping organize all those silly events for Milly. Running around campus to catch the cat that almost got Zero exposed...

"It brings back memories, doesn't it?"

I wasn't supposed to say that out loud. Apparently Lelouch Lamperouge doesn't want to stay dead. I thought I had him buried when I took the throne. My mistake. It won't happen again.

Kallen took it as a cue to speak freely. Luckily we're already out of hearing range of the media. She's, thanking me? No. She's thanking Zero. Why, though? She was there when Zero "died". Why speak to a dead man? One that she and her comrades killed, at that.

Oh, no. I let Lamperouge surface a bit earlier, but you're not coming out, Zero. Lelouch vi Britannia never makes the same mistake twice.

I manage to continuue listening to Kallen's words as if I have no idea what she's talking about - or who she's talking to. She's asking questions, now. Does she think I have the answer to them? She is mistaken.

My eyes widen momentarily when I felt her lips on mine. They're soft, warm, full of passion...

NO! Stay dead! She may be everything to both of you, but she is nothing to me! NOTHING! You had your chances. There's no turning back now!

There is no way back.

Not anymore.

The kiss ended almost as quickly as it started. I open my eyes (when did I close them?) to see hers full of emotion. She searches my eyes for... something, but is disappointed. She would be. She's looking at the wrong place.

"Goodbye, Lelouch," she says, just before she resumes her formal tone, telling me that the rest of the delegates are in the gymnasium. I nod in understanding and she turns to walk away.

I came to say goodbye. Or, rather, I came to let my masks say it. Go ahead, it's alright now.

"Goodbye, Kallen."

Now stay dead.


	2. Kallen

Disclaimer: Code Geass belongs to Sunrise.

* * *

Why did you come back?

That was only one of the many questions I wanted your answer to, Lelouch. Under different circumstances you'd never give a direct answer, and probably even tease me enough so I'd forget about waiting for an answer.

Yes, Lelouch, your tab is building up: Why did you become Zero? Why did you keep the Vincent's pilot's identity a secret from me? Why did you come back to us, the Black Knights, after Nunnally became governor? Why did you ask me to go back to Ashford with you? Why did you say that I have to "live on" back at the Ikaruga, right before Zero "died"?

Why is Suzaku your Knight of Zero?

No. I'm not really sure I want an answer to that. Maybe I do, but that's not the most important thing I want answered.

They assign me to be the one to guide you to the Council. I refuse to put on a visor that the rest of the guards will be wearing. It's undiplomatic, I say, but agree to have them shoot me down if they think you used your Geass on me when me meet. They don't know you could only use it once, do they? They only know what it does, but not all of how it works.

It's kind of lonely, you know? Being the only one who knows what that power of yours is all about. Both you and CC told me about it being a lonely power. Who would have thought it would extend to those who keep some knowledge of it?

Ah, here you are. I watch you walk from your jet towards me, dressed in all your finery. Why choose to wear white, though? Black was your color. You made the Ashford uniform look classy despite being a school uniform. You looked ten times more regal when donning your Zero costume...

That must be it. You're not Zero anymore, are you?

I notice you stopped walking and looking at the crowds. Rivalz?! That's right, he only knew you as his classmate and gambling buddy. Yes, I was shocked when you suddenly showed up as Briannia's Ninety-ninth Emperor, even though I already knew of your lineage. I couldn't possibly imagine the shock he and the others at the Student Council must feel, knowing you to be as ordinary as they are.

Once Rivalz was restrained, you resume your approach. This is it. This is the only chance I get before you meet with the Council. I have to ask - but which one? You're only five steps away now...

... four...

... three...

It's now or never.

"Lelouch, why...?"

Why...what? Which question did I most want the answer to? Hurry up, Kallen! This is your only chance! Decide and ask him before...

"Pleased to meet you."

What do you mean? Oh. Of course, this is supposed to be our first meeting. The media's here, too. I wish it didn't take your mentioning my rank for me to understand what you're getting at. I remember my role and promptly say what I was expected to say. A roundabout route? Nervous? You? The brilliant actor as ever, I see. I nod and lead the way.

I couldn't read you. Why did you want to walk around the campus? Heck, why choose Ashford at all? Agh, what am I doing? I should be deciding which questions I most want an answer to! He's bought us some time by asking this route, time to make up my mind.

This route. It's funny how I remember my way around campus despite my many absences. Just beyond the crowd barrier is the garden where the Gardening Club members expressed their intention to go after Arthur the cat for a kiss from me. To my left are the classrooms, one having served as a mini house of horrors for that school festival (I'll get back at you for that, Lelouch! Just you wait!). Up ahead is the clubhouse, where most of the insanities happening on campus are first formed...

"It brings back memories, doesn't it?"

Your voice snaps me out of my thoughts - again! You just love doing that, don't you? I suppose we can speak freely now. They aren't supposed to know you studied here, after all.

Yes, the place does bring back memories. So much that I lost track of what I wanted to ask you. I follow the path of memories, instead, thanking you for everything - from when it all started to where we are now. I can't really blame Ougi and the others for distrusting you after finding out about your identity and your Geass. I reacted the same way in Kaminejima, remember? They'll understand, eventually.

But taking the throne as Emperor? With Suzaku as your knight? I remember your words in Kaminejima, that when you two work together there's nothing you can't accomplish. What are you two up to? Are you after the power? The glory? Oh dear, I said those out loud, didn't I? Might as well get it over with.

"Back at the Ikaruga, why did you say that I 'have to live on'?" I ask. I hope I didn't sound desparate for an answer. Yes, that's what I want an anwer to.

You don't answer. Are you even listening?! C.C. was right, you ARE dense when it comes to things like this. I guess I have one choice to make you understand...

I see your eyes widen in surprise when I brought my face close to yours, then I concentrate on pouring all of me in that one kiss.

My first kiss.

And it felt like kissing a dead man.

I end the kiss and look into your eyes just as you open them, searching for the answer I seek, and understand. The Lelouch I knew, the Zero I followed in battle, Nunnally's big brother -- they all died when she did.

"Goodbye, Lelouch," I say, and resume my role as your guide, informing you that the Council will convene at the gymnasium.

I turn and walk away. I slow my steps ever so slightly thinking -- hoping -- that you'd have something to say, just like at the Ikaruga, then maybe, just maybe...

"Goodbye, Kallen."

And I feel much lonelier than before.


	3. Before and After

Disclaimer: Code Geass belongs to Sunrise

* * *

"The king?"

"If the king himself will not move, his subjects will not follow," answers the young man holding the black king chess piece. He is wearing the uniform of the male senior students of Ashford Academy. Lelouch Lamperouge leans back into his armchair after he completes his move.

His opponent in the present game of chess snorts in amusement, and raises a hand to his face; or rather the tulip-shaped mask that is upon it. That mask, as well as the black cloak that usually comes with it, is well-known in Japan -- formerly Area 11 -- and the nations further westward that comprise the United Federation of Nations: the founder and former CEO of the Order of the Black Knights, Zero.

"I have to admit, you are the one who has the greater right to use that line. You've been saying that long before I came along."

"So much that it already sounded cliche when you said it to Schneizel," retorted the youth, while folding his hands under his chin. "I wondered if he recognized who was under the mask when you spoke it."

"That would mean he was keeping an eye on underground chess gambling dens," answers the masked man while reaching out for a piece on the chessboard. "I doubt he has informants that far underground."

"Who knows? We've never beaten him before. You almost did, though."

"And win on his terms? I think you know me better than that. We were once the same person, after all," Zero answers, moving a knight piece to block a bishop. The knight is black.

Had they been in the real world, in Lelouch Lamperouge's real room, in the real clubhouse of the real Ashford Academy, the game in progress would be a strange sight indeed. Both players are playing black pieces. It is only the players' attention and innate brilliance that keeps them from confusing the other's chess pieces to be his own. This storyteller's guess is as good as the reader's as to why they decided on playing the game in such a fashion.

"Ah, I do. I wonder how it would play out this time around, though, now that _he_'s in charge."

"I wouldn't worry too much," Zero replies, resuming the posture he was in prior to moving the knight. "You did fairly well when that man's Geass sealed me in here last time."

"True," the youth replies. "Still, we were connected, then. You were nudging me to seek out where the lies ended."

"Indeed. And many times in the past, your bond with your friends have helped keep me human, as well. But all that changed..."

"...when Nunnally died."

The last phrase was spoken by both of them, and followed by a long silence. Indeed, it was their common ground, their reason for living -- Nunnally -- that kept one from being a completely separate entity from the other. After it was understood and accepted that she had been among the casualties when the FLEIJA bomb was deployed in the Tokyo settlement, each persona took on their own existence. At one point one was blaming the other for their common loss. While they were on relatively good terms at present, the disconnection could no longer be mended.

"What do you suppose he plans to do about Kallen?" It was Lelouch Lamperouge who spoke.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Zero answered. "You and I both know her; but, to him..."

"I'm worried," the youth cut in, his expression matching his words. "She may not understand."

"Have a little more faith in her. She's a strong one and you know that. We both do."

"Yes, but," the youth never completes his sentence. He runs both his hands through his hair in an expression of frustration. "It's complicated."

"It's never simple when it comes to us," the masked man replies, a smile almost audible in his tone. "I suppose we should thank him for letting us watch through the windows."

"Yes," Lelouch Lamperouge agrees. "At least we'll get to see her one last time."

"And say goodbye."

They continue their game in silence until the view from the room's windows shifted to what Lelouch vi Britannia was seeing upon his arrival in Ashford Academy. They both stood by the windows, their view suppressed when they moved too close to them, or when they reach out as if to open them. However at one moment, when Kallen turned around to face him (them?), their surroundings suddenly turned dark.

"What's happening?!"

"Wait, it's...

"...it's warm."

* * *

"Goodbye, Kallen."

* * *

Lelouch vi Britannia, dressed in his imperial regalia, walks into the place of his memories -- a place within himself that he fashioned after his old room in the Ashford Academy's clubhouse. Ignoring the rest of the room's current occupants, he walks to the bookshelf at one end of the room. It is filled with framed photographs of memories he has no longer any use for, and of people close to him that he had lost: His mother, Euphemia, Shirley, Nunnally, Rolo, and now -- in his hands to be added presently -- Kallen.

"Even though she's not dead, yet?"

"She's in the past, now, as are both of you," he turns to face his two other personae, but is surprised to see only one.

He was about to ask where the other one went, when he noticed something peculiar about the one he was speaking to: Wearing Zero's cloak, but not the mask - the missing mask being held beneath the speaker's right arm, thus revealing the young man's Geass on his glowing left eye. Closer inspection of the speaker's clothing revealed that it was not Zero's regal clothing, but the Ashford Academy uniform under the cloak.

"How did this happen?"

The other shrugs. "We were surprised, ourselves. We were watching you, then things went dark. There was this warm feeling, though. The next thing we knew, well," another shrug, "you can see for yourself. What happened out there?"

The ninety-ninth emperor of Britannia was confused. What could have happened to make this possible? It had only been moments since Kallen left him alone to return to her post. He had only taken this time to place his memories of Kallen along with the others before proceeding to the Council. The only thing that happened in recent memory when he shut them both out was when...

"She kissed me."

The eyes of the young man that was previously Lelouch Lamperouge and Zero widened in surprise. That expression quickly turned thoughtful. "I see."

They both stood there in silence, pondering the implications of this new development. It was Nunnally's death that split them into three, for two of them to become one again...

"I should be heading for the Council," said the young emperor after some time, turning to leave the room.

"Of course," answered the other, and shortly heard the door closing shortly after. Lost in his thoughts, he walked back to the table at the center of the room.

_A kiss -_ Kallen's _kiss - made this happen?_

He was about to take his seat when his mind registered a more immediate concern: how will this chess game ever finish now?

* * *

**Author's notes**: Thank you to those who read my first attempt at storytelling. I hope this third chapter (which I didn't originally plan) doesn't disappoint. This last part spawned yet another idea for a story, but I have no idea how to make it work yet. In the meantime, I direct you to my other story in which C.C. pokes fun at Lelouch's hair.


End file.
